Just in case you thought the Cayman Islands' 15 minutes of hedge fund fame was falling victim to a global backlash against offshore tax havens, Norm McGregor of Deloitte & Touche's office here has something to tell you. McGregor kicked off the annual "GAIM Ops" conference earlier today in Grand Cayman by pointing out that the 9500 funds domiciled on this island was only 500 below its all time high. This was emblematic of a sense of optimism that seems to permeate this year's event. 
Share:  Just in case you thought the Cayman Islands' 15 minutes of hedge fund fame was falling victim to a global backlash against offshore tax havens, Norm McGregor of <span class="company">Deloitte</span> & Touche's office here has something to tell you. McGregor kicked off the annual "GAIM Ops" conference earlier today in Grand Cayman by pointing out that the 9500 funds domiciled on this island was only 500 below its all time high. This was emblematic of a sense of optimism that seems to permeate this year's event. Tweet this 

Slightly different but along the same lines is the apt title for Jefferies & Company Inc.'s February analysis on merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the asset management, broker dealer and financial technology industries, On the Road Again (click here the download the full report). The implicit message is that M&A activity is once again on a tear, at least with respect to so called "mega deals" – transactions between asset managers with more than $75 billion under management. By Jefferies' count, there were 11 such transactions last year, a record, compared with five in 2008 and six in 2007. 
Share:  Slightly different but along the same lines is the apt title for <span class="company">Jefferies</span> & Company Inc.'s February analysis on merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the asset management, broker dealer and financial technology industries, On the Road Again (click here the download the full report). The implicit message is that M&A activity is once again on a tear, at least with respect to so called "mega deals" – transactions between asset managers with more than $75 billion under management. By <span class="company">Jefferies</span>' count, there were 11 such transactions last year, a record, compared with five in 2008 and six in 2007. Tweet this 

Punxsutawney Goose Lays Golden Egg: Six more weeks of "freeze" for asset management industry McKinsey & Company, the venerable consultancy, has a thing with geese. In 2003, the firm published a report on the then recovering asset management industry called " Will the goose keep laying golden eggs? ( ) "  Then, last month, it produced another report on the beaten up asset management sector asking the same question " Will the goose keep laying golden eggs? 
Share:  <span class="sent">Punxsutawney Goose Lays Golden Egg: Six more weeks of "freeze" for asset management industry <span class="company">McKinsey</span> & Company, the venerable consultancy, has a thing with geese. </span> In 2003, the firm published a report on the then recovering asset management industry called " Will the goose keep laying golden eggs? ( ) "  Then, last month, it produced another report on the beaten up asset management sector asking the same question " Will the goose keep laying golden eggs? Tweet this 

It's all hedge funds' fault – again Dust in the wind, sand through time, defunct Dubai, Dubailand gone bust: the anecdotes and analogies are endless (and beautifully illustrated in these poignant photographs taken by Lauren Greenfield as the real estate market was crumbling.) . Poor headlines aside, what has occurred once again in emerging markets, or at least in one Emirate in the emerging world, has set off what many worry could be yet another chain of unfortunate debt defaulting events affecting banks, financial markets and everything in between Does anyone remember Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Ecuador, Argentina, Moldova, and Uruguay, or going back even farther, Turkey? 
Share:  <span class="sent">It's all hedge funds' fault – again Dust in the wind, sand through time, defunct <span class="company">Dubai</span>, <span class="company">Dubai</span>land gone bust: the anecdotes and analogies are endless (and beautifully illustrated in these poignant photographs taken by Lauren Greenfield as the real estate market was crumbling.) . </span> Poor headlines aside, what has occurred once again in emerging markets, or at least in one Emirate in the emerging world, has set off what many worry could be yet another chain of unfortunate debt defaulting events affecting banks, financial markets and everything in between Does anyone remember Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Ecuador, Argentina, Moldova, and Uruguay, or going back even farther, Turkey? Tweet this 

Goldman HF Report: More consolidation ahead The one trend market pundits seem to collectively be predicting with ease for the hedge fund industry is so called consolidation . Which is why a list of the 100 largest US hedge funds, ranked by equity assets, buried deep in Goldman Sachs' recently released report on the state of the hedge fund industry, caught Alpha Male's late summer diverted attention Among a few of the highlights of the 47 page report: That US hedge funds now have net long exposure near levels not seen since before Lehman Brothers' collapse; that hedge funds now own 37% of the financial sector's market capitalization; that 7% of hedge funds have closed since the financial crisis set in; and that managers collectively boosted ownership in financials by 55% on a quarter over quarter basis to $70 billion, with Bank of America the favored stock pick 
Share:  <span class="sent"><span class="company">Goldman</span> HF Report: More consolidation ahead The one trend market pundits seem to collectively be predicting with ease for the hedge fund industry is so called consolidation . </span> Which is why a list of the 100 largest US hedge funds, ranked by equity assets, buried deep in <span class="company">Goldman</span> Sachs' recently released report on the state of the hedge fund industry, caught Alpha Male's late summer diverted attention Among a few of the highlights of the 47 page report: That US hedge funds now have net long exposure near levels not seen since before Lehman Brothers' collapse; that hedge funds now own 37% of the financial sector's market capitalization; that 7% of hedge funds have closed since the financial crisis set in; and that managers collectively boosted ownership in financials by 55% on a quarter over quarter basis to $70 billion, with Bank of America the favored stock pick Tweet this 

For example, John Paulson recently announced he was launching a gold fund and plugging $250mn of his own money into it; Paul Tudor Jones revealed that he had become the latest recruit to the gold bug movement; and Stanley Fink's new shop is planning to join the party with a gold fund – the latest in a series of funds focused on the sector The sudden love affair caps a remarkable comeback for a commodity that has spent much of the last three decades as an anachronism Unloved for most of the 1980s and 1990s, its supporters have only recently begun to shrug off the disparaging mantle of ‘gold bugs' – a transition aided by the fact that gold has outperformed most other asset classes over the decade (see chart below from Bloomberg ) 
Share:  <span class="sent">For example, John Paulson recently announced he was launching a gold fund and plugging $250mn of his own money into it; Paul Tudor Jones revealed that he had become the latest recruit to the gold bug movement; and Stanley Fink's new shop is planning to join the party with a gold fund – the latest in a series of funds focused on the sector</span> The sudden love affair caps a remarkable comeback for a commodity that has spent much of the last three decades as an anachronism Unloved for most of the 1980s and 1990s, its supporters have only recently begun to shrug off the disparaging mantle of ‘gold bugs' – a transition aided by the fact that gold has outperformed most other asset classes over the decade (see chart below from Bloomberg ) Tweet this 

Survey: "Crisis has reinforced ongoing trend toward alternative investing" The hedge fund industry's insatiable thirst for market research will be temporarily quenched this week by an interesting new report from SEI and Greenwich Associates. The document, called " The Era of the Investor " contains results from the firms' second annual survey of institutional investors (conducted in ) and is sure to generate a lot of press in the next few days Since this thing is destined to be well covered by the mainstream media, we thought we'd try to look a little deeper into the results and focus on some findings that aren't immediately obvious or covered in the executive summary 
Share:  <span class="sent">Survey: "Crisis has reinforced ongoing trend toward alternative investing" The hedge fund industry's insatiable thirst for market research will be temporarily quenched this week by an interesting new report from SEI and <span class="company">Greenwich Associates</span>. </span> The document, called " The Era of the Investor " contains results from the firms' second annual survey of institutional investors (conducted in ) and is sure to generate a lot of press in the next few days Since this thing is destined to be well covered by the mainstream media, we thought we'd try to look a little deeper into the results and focus on some findings that aren't immediately obvious or covered in the executive summary Tweet this 

The reality appears to be played out a bit differently, quantified by a recent survey by New York brokerage firm Jefferies & Company, Inc showing that M&A in the global asset management industry in 2009 was not only big, but dominated by mega deals, with a record nine transactions announced involving firms with more than $100 billion in assets under management According to the report, some 61 independently owned managers changed hands last year, the lowest level in more than a decade, and 57% below the previous year's tally The deals that did get done – BlackRock's purchase of Barclay Global Investors,  and Invesco's purchase of Morgan Stanley's retail asset management business, including Van Kampen Investments, among others, were if nothing else, big 
Share:  <span class="sent">The reality appears to be played out a bit differently, quantified by a recent survey by New York brokerage firm <span class="company">Jefferies</span> & Company, Inc showing that M&A in the global asset management industry in 2009 was not only big, but dominated by mega deals, with a record nine transactions announced involving firms with more than $100 billion in assets under management</span> According to the report, some 61 independently owned managers changed hands last year, the lowest level in more than a decade, and 57% below the previous year's tally The deals that did get done – BlackRock's purchase of Barclay Global Investors,  and Invesco's purchase of Morgan Stanley's retail asset management business, including Van Kampen Investments, among others, were if nothing else, big Tweet this 

The visuals were gorgeous and I really appreciated the arrows that helped novice players navigate (otherwise I would have never made some of those turns) I preferred using the iPhone like a steering wheel via the device's accelerometer; it had just the right amount of sensitive and responded beautifully I'm not much of a racing fan, but Need for Speed Shift was a heck of a lot of fun to play With the soundtrack blaring, the engines revving, and hairpin turns through some truly realistic courses, I can honestly say I've never played a more intense (or fun) racing game on the iPhone [Chris Holt is an Macworld assistant editor] 
Share:  The visuals were gorgeous and I really appreciated the arrows that helped novice players navigate (otherwise I would have never made some of those turns) I preferred using the <span class="company">iPhone</span> like a steering wheel via the device's accelerometer; it had just the right amount of sensitive and responded beautifully I'm not much of a racing fan, but Need for Speed Shift was a heck of a lot of fun to play<span class="sent"> With the soundtrack blaring, the engines revving, and hairpin turns through some truly realistic courses, I can honestly say I've never played a more intense (or fun) racing game on the <span class="company">iPhone</span> [<span class="analyst">Chris Holt</span> is an Macworld assistant editor]</span> Tweet this